Canoe Movie 2

Take a look at this exclusive preview of the film with footage from the Colorado and Southeast firsts:

This story is featured in the December issue of Canoe & Kayak, available on newsstands now.

Whitewater canoeing just needs more cameras. A little Kodak courage provided open boaters Dooley Tombras and Matt DeVoe the extra little nudge to fire up some of the Colorado high country's creekboating proving grounds—technical and continuous runs normally reserved for their double-blade brethren. "Well, the movie was a good excuse," Tombras, 29, admits of a high-water July morning on Daisy Creek, with cameras rolling for Canoe Movie 2: Uncharted Waters. "There's four slides at the top and maybe two eddies, just really steep mank. Not over Class IV-plus, but consequential for a canoe," Tombras recalls. "If you miss those eddies, fill with water and swim, you're going all the way to the waterfall." That would be Big Wood Falls (Tombras pictured below) a 20-footer that both paddlers cleaned. The Knoxville, Tenn., duo had already claimed the first open-boat descents of Adrenaline Falls, a dicey 25-footer on Lime Creek, and made it look deceptively easy (see video).

The film, premiering at Canoecopia March 9-11, also includes the pair's first canoe descent of the Lower Thompson River, the "crown jewel" of runs that feed Lake Jocassee near Asheville, N.C. Next up: a trip to Costa Rica with a cast of international OC-1 all-stars including Canadian Jim Coffey and Brit Jim Weir. "The goal is to push the envelope and see what we can do," Dooley says, hinting at the potential to break the 50-plus-foot, open-canoe waterfall world record. "Stuff that's never been done before." — Dave Shively